"It's not happening."
"Well..."
"I'm telling you, it's not happening."
"Maybe you don't perceive that--"
"Listen to me, I'm freezing."
"Okay, but--"
"I'm freezing. I can't feel my wings. Granted, they're little, but--"
"Haven't you noticed there's significantly less ice than there used to be?"
"I've noticed."
"And?"
"That doesn't necessarily indicate that there's global warming, Chad."
"Martin--"
"Chad."
"Martin..."
"Chad, ice melts. It's what it does. It melts. It's the nature of ice to melt."
"But so much of it is melting."
"Yes, well--"
"And as you said, it's freezing."
"Exactly!"
"So, if it's freezing why are things...melting?"
. . . . .
"Chad, are you a Communist?"
"What?"
"A Communist. A pinko. A Stalin-saluting--"
"I know what a Communist is, Martin, but why would you accuse me of being such a thing?"
"Because this is where these sorts of discussions lead. Right into Communism. Look, if you want to become a Commie and redistribute land and wealth like some sort of polar bear, you go right ahead."
"The polar bears aren't Communists. That's just a misconception."
"I'll tell you what's a misconception--that our way of life isn't under attack."
"It is under attack, Martin. The ground beneath us is crumbling."
"Exactly! The metaphorical ground under--"
"No, not the metaphorical ground. The actual ground."
"Chad, if that were true, wouldn't I be drowning right now?"
"Martin, isn't it true that we've had to move six times in the past two years?"
"That's just nature. Ice caps shift and maneuver and--other stuff happens. And so we move. Living things move. We change. We evolve. Maybe we'll grow thumbs. Or gills. That way we can live underwater."
"We'll be dead before that happens."
"Always a pessimist. Look, what I'm trying to say is--It doesn't mean the entire infrastructure is collapsing."
"But soon there won't be anywhere left to move to!"
"Yes there will be! Because more ice will freeze."
"If more ice was going to freeze, why wouldn't it be freezing now?"
"Why do you feel the need to solve the world's problems, Chad? Did somebody elect you King of the Problem Solvers? I keep telling you--the ice melting is not our concern. Our concern is eating and sleeping and not getting devoured by sea lions. That's all we need to worry about."
"Martin, aren't you scared for your kids?"
"No, why would I be--No. No, not at all. The kids are fine."
"But once we're gone, then what?"
"Well then, they won't be kids anymore."
"No, but they'll have their own kids to worry about. Our grandkids. What about them?"
"More ice will freeze."
"And if it doesn't?"
"I CAN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT THAT, CHAD!"
"Okay, I just--"
"I can't stop ice from melting or make it freeze! I can't keep gathering up my family to move them somewhere every few weeks when there's no place left to move! I guess we could all just fly away, but--oh wait! We can't fly!"
"But we still have to think about this, don't we?"
"How can we think about things we can't change? Do our minds even let us?"
"I think about it."
"You do?"
"I think about it constantly."
"Well, that's..."
. . . . .
"I guess we'll just have to keep moving, Chad."
"Yes."
"And maybe the ice will freeze again."
"Or maybe we'll all fall off an ice cap into the abyss."
"And then we'll swim."
"Until we can't swim anymore."
"And then we'll know we tried. We tried our best."
"To do what?"
"To live, Martin. To survive. To fly."
"So that'll be what it feels like? To fly?"
"Probably."
"Well...I've always wondered. I've always wondered what that feels like."
No comments:
Post a Comment